Sober
by Sharra
Summary: Love was never on Hermione's A-list, but neither was getting wasted and having a one-night stand. The roads of friendships get rocky when the news is general gossip. Taking a leap into fate, Herms is in for the ride of her life.


Sober  
  
Chapter One  
  
Written by: Sharra & Flying Onions  
  
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A.N: Another story by Onions and myself. We make a great team and I'm pretty sure that our combined wit and love of a great fic with this scenario in play is going to blow you away. Please review and tell us what you think.  
  
~Sharra  
  
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Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter, but we do own this story so keep your pants on and your hands off.  
  
Summary: Love was never on Hermione's A-list, but neither was getting wasted and having a one-night stand. The roads of friendships get rocky when the news is general gossip. Taking a leap into fate, Herms is in for the ride of her life.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter One  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Prying her arm from the twisted sheets around her, Hermione rubbed the sleep from her eyes and checked her alarm clock.  
  
A bright red 9:30 glared back at her. Too early for life.  
  
She clamped her eyes shut, throwing her pillow over her throbbing head to block the accursed sun from view. Glorious darkness, was there any other sweet haven on this corrupted bright planet? A slight snore brought her from under the pillow with a start. Grimacing at the quick movement, she cautiously turned her pounding head and looked at the person sleeping beside her.  
  
Repressing her scream of horror, Hermione slowly eased her aching head back onto her pillow and gazed at the ceiling, a million and one thoughts racing painfully through her mind. The main one being:  
  
What the hell had she done?  
  
She took a quick glance under her bedspread to confirm her suspicions. Her face flushed hot when she caught glimpse of more than she had sought out. She muffled her groan of horror by turning her head into the mattress beneath her. Massaging her temples, she hoped to ease the new onslaught of pressure building behind them.  
  
Fred Weasley, her best friend's older brother was in her bed naked. Could this day get any worse?  
  
A soft moan came from her slumbering bedmate as he pried his eyes open before shutting them once again at the glare of the sun.  
  
Obviously it could.  
  
Fred rolled onto his side, towards her, turning away from the sun before making another attempt to open his eyes. Hermione watched the play of emotions flitter across his face- confusion, shock, realization, surprise, horror, before settling on mild amusement. "Good morning, Hermione."  
  
Damn him for being so smooth! Not saying anything in reply for fear of sputtering like an idiot, she watched him rub his eyes with the back of his hand and sit up, his back to her. He seemed to take a deep breath before standing with a sheet wrapped around his waist. With his back still to her, he moved about the room quickly picking up his crazily discarded clothes. Hermione blushed when he picked up his white undershirt from beneath her sheer blue bra, but he seemed to be oblivious to it, and everything else for that matter, as he made his way to the bathroom, sheet still in tow.  
  
Not quite sure when he might walk back out, Hermione stayed beneath her comforter watching the bathroom door. She searched her mind for any speck of memory from the night before, but it all came back to a big blank. All she managed to remember was going to Pansy's party on the empty third floor, playing a few games of poker, dancing with a few guys, and that was about it. Ofcourse she had drank more than a few drinks like always, but Hermione prided herself on being able to hold her liquor, which meant she was either spiked damned good or she had gotten wasted and stupid.  
  
Her surroundings were abnormally silent, except for the running water of Fred's shower, meaning everyone had already left for Hogsmeade. A new round of blushing crept up her face. Had Lavender seen Fred in her bed when she came back from the party last night? In an attempt to block out the sound of a certain someone's humming she crushed her head underneath two pillows with another groan. If anyone found out about this, life would officially be over.  
  
She kept herself hidden when she heard Fred exit the bathroom whistling. "Shut the hell up," her groggy voice muffled by the averting pillows. The whistling cut off abruptly with a soft chuckle.  
  
The bed creaked and sank as Fred sat beside her. Lifting the pillows, although she tried to fight him on it, he let another one of his breathy chuckles loose when he saw her face. "It seems we've gotten ourselves into quite a predicament."  
  
The unladylike snort that left Hermione was uninhabited with any meaning. Nervously she met his eyes that were twinkling with amusement, and softly asked if he remembered anything from the night before.  
  
"Bits and pieces here and there," he said in a casual voice, then clearing his throat asked if she did.  
  
Hermione shook her head slowly, apprehensive of doing anything quickly. "I don't remember a thing. I don't even remember seeing you at the party." She raised her eyebrow at the confusion that sprawled itself across his features.  
  
He shook his head, his wet hair clinging to his forehead. "I didn't see you at a party. You were wondering down one of the underground tunnels near the Womping Willow when I met up with you and then we headed over to Burgum's for a few drinks." He grimaced with something akin to embarrassment. "I never could hold my liquor all that well."  
  
Shaking his head again as if to clear it, he shot her a roguish grin. "How we got back here, I have no idea." Taking notice of her mussed up make up gone stale, he stood and motioned towards the bathroom door, "Why don't you go clean up and we'll talk about this later."  
  
Hermione nodded, getting up from bed with the sheet around her as he had earlier. "When?"  
  
Fred glanced at her bedside clock. "I've got to get to the shop before George decides to pull today's sale without me, but how does six tonight sound?"  
  
Something nagged at the back of her mind for her to remember, but blowing it off she nodded again in ascent, "Sounds good enough to me. The shop?"  
  
He seemed to think about it for a second before saying, "Yea, that should work out fine. See you then." Walking to the door and opening it, he turned to her once again. "Please refrain from bringing Harry, I want to talk about this with you before he finds out," he said in neutral tone before shutting the door behind him.  
  
The name 'Harry' clicked into place and knocked down her calm attitude to something short of a panic.  
  
She had cheated on Harry with Fred Weasley, one of his best friends. With a sob of frustration she stomped into the empty bathroom and slammed the door hard, nearly catching her fingers.  
  
She made quick work of finding the right bath temperature, then turned to rummage through the medicine cabinet above the sink, pulling out the muggle bottle of aspirin her mother had bought her for her midnight migraines she got during allergy season. Popping two of the small white pills in her mouth she slid into the hot, steaming water that seemed to be shouting her name.  
  
The hot water eased the inner turmoil and confusion out of knots as well as her shoulder muscles. Hermione squeezed a fair amount of shampoo plus conditioner into her hair and lathered it up, letting watery suds drip down her wrists and into her ears unheeded. Giving it a minute to soak in and do it's thing, she laid her head on the hard, cold rim of the pewter tub and willed herself to sort through the mess she had stepped into.  
  
She had given her virginity to Fred Weasley, which was technically called cheating while she was dating Harry. Those were the important facts. The point that she was drunk at the time and couldn't remember a damn thing was just an excuse. Harry ofcourse would forgive her, but their friendship would be on the edge of ruin and not to mention that it would crush their dating relationship if he ever found out.  
  
But he did deserve to know, because not only was he just her boyfriend but also one of her two best friends on the entire planet. But that could just as well be over if she told him, or anyone else for that matter.  
  
What about Fred? How did he feel about it all? She admitted to herself that they had handled it all very well together so far. Mainly, on her part, because she had been too tired to care at that moment. But what did Fred think? The look of horror that had played on his face shortly after he awoke and saw her played itself over in her mind.  
  
Was he just as disgusted to get caught in this situation as she was? Or was he just disgusted to get caught in it with her?  
  
Hermione glanced down at her nude body, relaxed in the cooling water. She wasn't the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts, that was a given. Compared to her roommate and friend, Lavender Brown, she was a grunge muffin, but she did hold some beauty of her own, right?  
  
With a final sigh of frustration laced with major confusion, she dunked her head under to rinse her hair clean.  
  
  
  
  
  
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A.N: This is my first Harry Potter fic and I believe Onion's as well. I hope you like it so far. Please review if you'd like us to continue.  
  
~Sharra  
  
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Review!! 


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